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Green Club an EPA charade
The EPA touts the perk-filled program, but has recruited some firms with dismal environmental records.
Yet for more than a year, the DuPont lab remained in Performance Track. It was not until 2007 that the EPA asked the DuPont lab not to reapply to its program.
Five other DuPont facilities remain in Performance Track, including one that uses PFOAs.
In settling the case, DuPont did not admit any liability. In a statement to The Inquirer, Mark Hause, DuPont's global environmental competency leader, said the company differed with the EPA on the interpretation of the reporting requirement. DuPont said it chose to withdraw its renewal application.
"In the letter acknowledging our withdrawal, EPA recognized that [Stine Haskell Research Center] is an environmental leader, and was an asset to the program," said Hause.
Performance Track officials also praised DuPont in an interview with The Inquirer.
"If you compared a lot of those companies that are members of Performance Track to the general rating of chemical companies, you would find DuPont is considered to be an environmental leader," Fiorino said.
The latest available EPA data show that the company, which had pledged to cut hazardous emissions, saw its total toxic chemical release by Performance Track plants rise 15 percent, to nearly a half-million pounds.
A desperate show
While the EPA has expended little effort to verify that Performance Track members keep their promises, it has spent millions marketing their achievements and trying to woo recruits.
The program, funded with tax dollars, writes news releases for companies, heralds them on government Web sites, and plants positive stories in trade publications.
No act of enthusiasm is considered too small. Lockheed Martin, the multibillion-dollar defense contractor, is praised on the Performance Track's Web site for proudly showing "its commitment to environmental excellence by flying the Performance Track flag over its Manassas, Va., facility."
Over the last four years, Performance Track has paid two outside consulting firms more than $4.2 million.
Last year alone, records show, EPA paid ICF Consulting of Fairfax, Va., nearly $700,000, including $249,875 for member recruitment and $311,287 for "branding, outreach and communications."
The other consultant, Industrial Economics Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., has received $2.7 million to help run the program and operate its hotline, records show. Spokesmen for ICF and Industrial Economics declined to comment for this story.
In 2007, EPA placed public service announcements touting its corporate members' accomplishments in Forbes, Fortune and Business Week.
One full-page ad claimed that Performance Track members cut water use by 3.5 billion gallons: "That's a big drop in the bucket," the ad said.
Performance Track helps companies look good in other ways too. In 2006, it arranged for several governors to write letters to member companies praising them for joining Performance Track.
Despite these efforts, recruitment has been slow. Records show that Performance Track has resorted to recruiting small fish - companies that don't pollute much in the first place or members that aren't companies at all.
These include the gift shop/cafeteria at the Statue of Liberty, three dozen post office facilities, and even the EPA regional office on Arch Street in Philadelphia.
In a November 2006 internal e-mail, one EPA staffer noted the potential of partnering with a quasi-government agency.
